Culture Shock
by EchoVakarian
Summary: This short story is based off of an idea I had to see what would happen if the Virals series had taken place in the Mass Effect Universe. I plan on eventually writing my own version of the rest of the series, but this short story is an introduction to my version.
I walked outside the shuttle depot into the bright, harsh daylight. I checked the time on my Omni-tool. 13:37. I looked up and took in my surroundings - a large courtyard filled with different plant species native to Horizon. And noticed that there wasn't anyone resembling Kit Howard. There was, however, an empty bench on the far north side of the garden. I moved over to the bench, set down my two suitcases and backpack, and sat down. I turned on my ear buds - I couldn't live without music - using my Omni-tool. A playlist featuring solely Thousand Foot Krutch, a Christian rock band from the early 21st century, started playing in my ears.

After I found out that I'd be moving to one of the outer colonies, I'd been given information about my father. Apparently, Kit Howard is a scientist working at LIRI, a research facility way out in the outskirts of the main city.

Though the officers hadn't given me any information about the colony, I'd had plenty of time on the five-hour-long shuttle ride here to research my new home . Horizon is one of the few human colony worlds that's located just outside Citadel Space, which means there was barely Alliance presence. Matter of fact, it's been rumored that the people on Horizon actually resent Alliance - just my luck.

Since father dearest didn't know I existed, I'd spent my entire life living on either whatever Alliance ship Mom was serving on or in the apartment we had on the Citadel. Until now.

Only a few short weeks ago Mom and I had been eating supper in the apartment when Ash called saying that she needed Mom's help with something before they had to deploy the next morning. Five hours later, C-Sec officers were at the door. Mom had crashed on the way back from Ash's apartment, because five hours later,

Since Aunt Jane, who was stated in Mom's will as my godmother, was killed about two months before, mom hadn't had the time to name a new godparent. Social Services had told my father about my existence and a custody battle ensued between my father and Mom's brother, John.

Okay, might as well confess now - my name's Victoria Shepard. That last name sound familiar? It should... the Shepard family is one of the most famous. My mother and both of her siblings are all Alliance legends. Real live heroes.

Aunt Jane was the very first and so far only human Spectre. She chased a rogue turian Spectre named Saren all across the galaxy and saved the Citadel from the Reaper invasion. After saving the citadel, the council sent her out to hunt for Geth. While on that mission her ship, the Normandy, was attacked by an unknown enemy and she was spaced while saving the Normandy's pilot.

My mom, Captain Lucy Shepard, wasn't as famous as Aunt Jane, she's had her moments of glory. She single-handedly held off a Batarian slaver attack on Elysium. Mom's ship was on shore leave, so everyone, including us kids, were on the ground. Since Jake, Richard, Eddie, and I were the oldest of the kids, we were responsible for the safety of the younger children, and in the process I was put into a coma for two months. No one was hurt, so my sacrifice was not in vain.

Uncle John is actually the least famous, but he's still pretty famous. He was the sole survivor of a mission gone wrong on Akuze. His entire team was attacked by a thresher maw and for days he was hidden, surrounded by dead or dying teammates, without any way to contact anyone. Luckily, he survived, but not without some damage. He was diagnosed with PTSD and some other mental illnesses. He even tried to shoot himself once, but six-year-old me stopped him. He was almost discharged from the Alliance, but with some therapy, he was able to stay active. Now, he's an N-7 trainer.

And that's not even the whole story. All three of them are highly decorated soldiers. Both of their parents were in the Navy as well, so their childhood was similar to mine - living on whatever ship Grandma Hannah was serving on. Either way, I come from a long line of Alliance soldiers, and now I live on a colony world where people aren't too hip about the Alliance.

Irritated, I looked at my Omni-tool to check the time. 13:42. I did another take of the courtyard. This time, Kit Howard was just entering the gates.

"Dad" was actually shorter than I'd thought. He had a very twig-like figure and had short but crazy-curly brown hair.

We noticed each other at about the same time. He started walking towards me at a quick pace, so I stood up and slung my backpack over my shoulder.

As he got closer his face morphed into a look of horror - probably because he noticed my outfit. This morning I'd put on a t-shirt with the Alliance symbol on the front, a pair of blue camo pants, and black boots - one of Mom's old Alliance uniforms.

"Do you have anything else to wear? Preferably something that doesn't have Alliance written all over it?" He half-whispered as he approached. By the look of pure shock on his face, my guess is he didn't research me as I did him. I nodded as I pointed to my backpack. I had an extra outfit in it, just in case I lost my suitcases.

"Good. I'd suggest you go change before we head home." He said as he grabbed my two other bags and struggled to drag them out of the garden. I nodded again, then headed back inside to change.

I walked into the ladies' room and went into the first open stall. I dug out the extra outfit - a black tank top with no designs on it and a black pair of shorts. The black shorts were given to me by Aunt Jane and had the Spectre symbol on the left back pocket as well as our shared surname on the outer side of the right leg. Hey, a Spectre symbol on my butt is better than an Alliance uniform, right?

After changing into my Spectre shorts and black tank, I slid my boots back on and laced them up - I didn't have another pair of shoes in my backpack. Once that was done, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and stepped over to the mirror to fix my hair. My hair gets tangled so easily, and me being tender-headed, I had to brush my hair constantly. I always carried a hairbrush.

As I brushed my hair I remembered that the collar on my tank top was low enough that I couldn't hide the dog tags. It was a set of two, but they weren't for the same person. One is Aunt Jane's and the other is Mom's. I considered taking them off and sticking the necklace in my pocket, but decided against it. I'd promised Uncle John I'd wear it during every waking hour. He had the matching set, and said it might help me feel closer to him. To be honest, it's worked so far.

After I finished brushing my hair, I stuck my hairbrush in my backpack and walked out of the bathroom to see Kit waiting by the water fountain, looking exhausted from getting my luggage into his shuttle. He most likely noticed that I was still wearing the dog tags, but he didn't say anything. We just hopped into his shuttle and he drove us home.


End file.
